Second-hand consumption as a way of life: public auctions in the surroundings of Alost in the late eighteenth centurySecond-hand consumption as a way of life: public auctions in the surroundings of Alost in the late eighteenth century

Author

Van Damme, Ilja

Vermoesen, Reinoud

Faculty/Department

Faculty of Arts. History

Publication type

article

Publication

2009Cambridge
, 2009

Subject

History

Source (journal)

Continuity and change : a journal of social structure, law and demography in past societies. - Cambridge, 1986, currens

This article seeks to place second-hand consumption, or the reuse of older objects, into the expanding historical literature on early modern consumer practices. It claims that the study of second-hand consumption remains a much neglected topic of historical interest. Farther empirical research of pre-industrial reuse habits is needed to examine essential problems and inconsistencies concerning consumers and their handling of older goods. On the basis of rarely used sources relating to public auctions in the countryside of the southern Netherlands, key questions regarding the current debate will be addressed. These questions concern the products that were handled, the actors involved, and how reuse was (or was not) affected by broader changes in society.